Thursday, October 20, 2011

I though I had given up having this argument. I know that it smacks of paranoid conspiracy cabal-ness, but whenever I consider and examine the anecdotal evidence the conclusions are inescapable. The argument is whether we have a JUSTICE system or an EXCLUSION system.

Whenever I attempt to call the question, I immediately lose. It's crazy to suggest that "criminals" should not be prosecuted. I agree. That is crazy. What is also crazy is to hold no fundamental distinction between the crimes that have always been out of bounds and those created by and for specific slivers of our society as a contrast media and sorting mechanism. A competitive edge for the few against the many?

What prompted Henry Thomas Buckle to assert that "Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it" is rarely fully considered. The alternative, of course, must be anarchy, which everyone knows is sheer madness. Still, I find myself unconvinced of the merit of this argument ending. That it is an all or nothing proposition. Our lack of nuance and need for simplistic solutions has to be continually brought to question, else we contribute to our own destruction. To not apply motive (of all parties) and mitigation to the process of regulating behaviors, to insist on uniform, non-negotiable punishments that do NOT fit the crime, -but rather, surrenders justice in favor of management expediencies- can no longer be considered justice in any way. shape. or form.

Set `em up. Knock `em down. Not so subtle behavior modification. Be sure to make the downward slope extremely slippery. It will prove you were right and justify the measures taken. Divide, single out and PUNISH. The distant, sanitary nature of the process relies on our TRUST. The seemingly ceaseless news and images reinforce our trust that punishment is not only justified, but, perhaps, in need of further teeth.We've stopped trying to separate fact from "fictionalized account". That line has disappeared. Our context for "crimes" is so interwoven with our "entertainment" that we don't even attempt to distinguish anymore.

There are no petty crimes. There are no petty criminals. The serial killer is no different than the shoplifter. We just don't have time to sort through anymore. Actually we turned that burden over to our paid staff when we were convinced that we shouldn't need be bothered. It distracted us from our productivity.